Timing, updated 8 October 2026
Gold trading sessions explained
The Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York sessions, how gold behaves in each, and why the London–New York overlap matters most.
Gold trades almost 24 hours a day, five days a week, passed between four financial centres. Each leaves its mark on the price.
The four sessions
Sydney (21:00 to 06:00 UTC). The week opens here. Liquidity is thin, so any weekend news shows up as a gap.
Tokyo and Asia (00:00 to 09:00 UTC). Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. Physical demand from China and India shows up here. Ranges are usually tighter.
London (07:00 to 16:00 UTC). The centre of the world’s physical gold market and of the LBMA gold price auctions (10:30 and 15:00 London time). Volume rises and the day’s trend often begins.
New York (12:00 to 21:00 UTC). COMEX futures, US data and the Federal Reserve. The most violent moves of the day usually come in its first hours.
The overlap
From about 12:00 to 16:00 UTC, London and New York trade together. It’s when liquidity is deepest, spreads are tightest and most US data is released, which makes it the busiest window for gold, and the one most signals come from.
Daylight saving
The UK and US change clocks on different dates in March and October/November. For a week or two the overlap shifts by an hour. The session clock handles this for your time zone.
The weekly cycle
Gold trades from Sunday evening to Friday evening, US time. Monday’s Asian session can be slow; Friday afternoon (US) often sees positions closed before the weekend. More in the best time to trade gold.